[Open] Because I am made out of shipwrecks, every twisted beam.

[starryeyed_cass]

Not much time has passed for Cassie Riddle in the time she’s been away from Chicago, only two days - to be exact. She found herself stuck in some bizzare mini-world that was almost the exact double of a gameshow she used to watch as a child called ‘Fun House’. Except this one doesn’t have nice prizes or fun games and is a lot harder than she ever

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[thelightofgrace]

Charlie's sitting in the bus depot for no particular reason at all.

He might be contemplating leaving town. He might be waiting for someone. He might just have gotten lost in a thought and wound up somewhere where he hadn't been expecting. Point of it all is, he's there. At the bus depot when a tall woman gets off and visions of sugar plums dance around her head.

Or maybe they're butterflies. It's entirely a possibility.

He smiles, however, when they start congratulating her. "Looks like someone's happy to see ya."

[fellfrommyheart]

Dylan turns her head at the familiar voice temporarily forgets about the butterflies about her head. She stares at Charlie and it actually takes her a few moments to remember the day she spent as a child.

It was actually quite fun being a child, the world didn't seem to press down on her too much. There was just nice things, like ice cream.

"I... I think the Rift's happy for me," she says with a tired sigh. As much as it nice... she doesn't need it right now. She's tired and she's had a long bus ride.

She shakes her head, rubbing at her eyes. She smiles weakly and approaches him, "Hi, Mr. Charlie,"

[thelightofgrace]

His head tips at the familiar greeting, and it takes him a minute to place it. A tiny girl in oversized clothes flashes before his eyes, and he straightens a little more, giving her a small smile.

"Evie?"

[fellfrommyheart]

Dylan wobbles on the spot a little bit, biting on her lower lip. Oh, right. She told him her real name, didn't she? She didn't realise it at the time, that she was meant to hide it. But when she was a little girl - she wasn't Dylan, so she wouldn't have thought to have given that name.

She nods awkwardly, "I was," she says and pauses for a moment to try and explain it, "Little Me is Evie," she says, titling her head to the side, "Big me is... not really Evie, but trying to be Evie again,"

If that makes sense, Charlie.

[thelightofgrace]

For some reason, it does. It takes him a second to put all the pieces together, but he does, and he gets it. He doesn't hide behind another name the way she does, but he is striving to get back to that person he was before the war.

"So what do I call Big You?"

[fellfrommyheart]

"Um," she looks down for a moment, "It's Dylan. That's what people here know me as, anyway,"

"I don't mind what you call me. You knew me as Evie first and like I said... I'm trying to be, well, Evie, again," she scrunches her nose up and begins to wring her hands. "Evie's better. She's a better person, y'know? But I dunno, it's one of those.. work in progresses. I went home to work on it and stuff and I dunno,"

She's starting to ramble now. Please do excuse her.

[thelightofgrace]

Charlie's quiet for a minute, listening to her ramble at him and somehow understanding every word. "Everyone's a work-in-progress, darlin'. That's nothing to be ashamed of."

He knows that feeling pretty well actually.

"Would you like me to call you Evie?" She said he could call her whatever he wants, but he wants to know what she would like to be called. It might help on the work in progress track.

[fellfrommyheart]

Dylan smiles weakly, still wringing her hands. She makes a short, amused humming sound at the back of her throat. She'd like to believe it's nothing to be ashamed of but.. "It's bad it's taken so long to start. Too long, you know?"

She falls silent for a little while to consider this. Because it's important to her and it feels like a big decision. Although she's not sure if she's ready to be called Evie - she does want to be called it.

"Maybe. Maybe if you called me Dylan for a little while - and then. Then I can let you know... when I want to be called Evie again?" she says, biting on her lower lip.

[thelightofgrace]

"I can do that," he nods. "You let me know when you want to be Evie again, alright Dylan?"

There are times when he reaches he has a persona to hide behind when he loses it a little. But Charlie's never been the kind to hide from anything, so there is no reason for him to start now.

[fellfrommyheart]

"I will," she says with a firm nod of her head.

Dylan wishes she could be the same, but she can't help but hide. But now she feels she's been hiding for too long.

"Wanna go and get some ice cream?" she asks. She remembers when they did this the first time they met. She might not be a six year old any more, but ice cream seems like it solves a lot of things.

The narration sees a pattern forming.

[thelightofgrace]

Ice cream solves a lot of things, and Charlie, for one, does not object to this particular pattern. He gives her a smile before nodding and pushing to his feet.

"I think that sounds like a fantastic plan."